MONROE - Members of the Green County Livestock Facility Study Group considered submitted ideas and some of their own during a Tuesday meeting, taking one of the final steps before a report is submitted to the county board in May.
Victoria Solomon, community resource development director from the Green County University of Wisconsin-Extension, facilitates the committee. She provided group members with the ideas submitted by the public. Three were submitted in writing with corroborating research, which included the idea to establish ag zoning districts, modify existing county ordinance/exact new ones and to simply count the animals at a facility.
The written submissions without supporting research were to give the county and local governments final control of incoming projects, bring back the requirement of a $1 million bond, namely for each 1,000 cattle and require a wastewater treatment plant for any site with 3,000 or more cows.
The study group was created to use science-based information to provide scientific recommendations to the Green County Board of Supervisors for environmental protection. The committee functions during a county-wide moratorium on all new concentrated animal feeding operation applications. CAFOs are defined by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources as a farm with greater than 1,000 animal units. Dairy farms with greater than 714 cows fall under that description.
The moratorium was approved by the board Aug. 8 in what supervisors said was an effort to find more information about the health and environmental impact such facilities would have on Green County.
Discussion of CAFOs was prompted by an application from Nebraska dairy farmer Todd Tuls for a 5,800-cow facility on 127 acres of land along County FF and Decatur-Sylvester Road in Sylvester Township. The proposed Pinnacle Dairy, currently being constructed, prompted a moratorium by the Town of Sylvester and the creation of new livestock siting guidelines as the result of findings by a science committee, which found the project site to be susceptible to groundwater contamination. Because a moratorium was instituted after the conditional approval of Pinnacle on April 6, the large-scale facility is not beholden to any laws passed as a result of the study committee.
Members of the committee broke into three groups during the meeting, faced with large sheets of paper, each one bearing a different title in blue writing: Surface water, air quality, public health and groundwater safety. For roughly an hour, group members were tasked with writing down ideas to be compiled by Solomon for consideration during meetings in March.
Since its first meeting Sept. 27, the committee has been gathering information provided by experts at the state, local and university system levels, which will be used to formulate the final report.
Solomon said she is currently sorting through the notes written during the hour-long process. One common thread she noted so far was a focus on the county level, namely education and different practices to improve quality and health.
The moratorium ends June 19, and the report from the group must be presented to county board members 30 days before that date. Solomon informed committee members during the meeting that a scheduling conflict with the Green County Development Corporation annual dinner meant some supervisors would be absent and asked whether the committee would like to present early.
Committee member Bethany Storm said if the board caused the problem, the presentation should either be on the planned date or later. Advisory member Mark Mayer said the May meeting was already close to the deadline and that presenting in April would be too early.
Solomon said the committee will meet again March 13 and March 27 to finalize the information and examine feedback from Green County Corporation Counsel Brian Bucholtz regarding the legality of proposals and wording. Solomon plans to have a final draft to the committee April 13, which will then be presented to the Green County Board of Supervisors during its monthly meeting May 8.
Victoria Solomon, community resource development director from the Green County University of Wisconsin-Extension, facilitates the committee. She provided group members with the ideas submitted by the public. Three were submitted in writing with corroborating research, which included the idea to establish ag zoning districts, modify existing county ordinance/exact new ones and to simply count the animals at a facility.
The written submissions without supporting research were to give the county and local governments final control of incoming projects, bring back the requirement of a $1 million bond, namely for each 1,000 cattle and require a wastewater treatment plant for any site with 3,000 or more cows.
The study group was created to use science-based information to provide scientific recommendations to the Green County Board of Supervisors for environmental protection. The committee functions during a county-wide moratorium on all new concentrated animal feeding operation applications. CAFOs are defined by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources as a farm with greater than 1,000 animal units. Dairy farms with greater than 714 cows fall under that description.
The moratorium was approved by the board Aug. 8 in what supervisors said was an effort to find more information about the health and environmental impact such facilities would have on Green County.
Discussion of CAFOs was prompted by an application from Nebraska dairy farmer Todd Tuls for a 5,800-cow facility on 127 acres of land along County FF and Decatur-Sylvester Road in Sylvester Township. The proposed Pinnacle Dairy, currently being constructed, prompted a moratorium by the Town of Sylvester and the creation of new livestock siting guidelines as the result of findings by a science committee, which found the project site to be susceptible to groundwater contamination. Because a moratorium was instituted after the conditional approval of Pinnacle on April 6, the large-scale facility is not beholden to any laws passed as a result of the study committee.
Members of the committee broke into three groups during the meeting, faced with large sheets of paper, each one bearing a different title in blue writing: Surface water, air quality, public health and groundwater safety. For roughly an hour, group members were tasked with writing down ideas to be compiled by Solomon for consideration during meetings in March.
Since its first meeting Sept. 27, the committee has been gathering information provided by experts at the state, local and university system levels, which will be used to formulate the final report.
Solomon said she is currently sorting through the notes written during the hour-long process. One common thread she noted so far was a focus on the county level, namely education and different practices to improve quality and health.
The moratorium ends June 19, and the report from the group must be presented to county board members 30 days before that date. Solomon informed committee members during the meeting that a scheduling conflict with the Green County Development Corporation annual dinner meant some supervisors would be absent and asked whether the committee would like to present early.
Committee member Bethany Storm said if the board caused the problem, the presentation should either be on the planned date or later. Advisory member Mark Mayer said the May meeting was already close to the deadline and that presenting in April would be too early.
Solomon said the committee will meet again March 13 and March 27 to finalize the information and examine feedback from Green County Corporation Counsel Brian Bucholtz regarding the legality of proposals and wording. Solomon plans to have a final draft to the committee April 13, which will then be presented to the Green County Board of Supervisors during its monthly meeting May 8.